I Remember You

by Cathleen Davitt Bell

Juliet and Lucas are falling in love, but when Lucas "remembers" things about Juliet he could not possibly know, Juliet begins to wonder if something is wrong.

• ISBN10: 0385754558
• ISBN13: 9780385754552
• Publish Date: 10 February 2015 (first published 1 January 2015)
• Publish Status: Remaindered
• Imprint: Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers
• Format: Hardcover
• Pages: 320
• Language: English

Reviews

[Bianca]

Are the memories we recall governed by the feelings attached to them? Is that why they stay with us? Or do we remember only what we remind ourselves of over and again as the years go by? How is it possible that some memories you’d like to hold on to slip away and others—mundane and sad alike, the memories you’d just as soon forget—stay, bubbling to the surface of your brain for no reason at all?

[bookishzelda]

I Remember You by Cathleen Davitt Bell was completely addicting for me. I was so absorbed in the book trying to figure out what was going on. Plus Juliet and Lucas have such a great love story. The book had this kind of haunting feeling to it.

Juliet is the narrator but not in the typical fashion. It’s as though she herself is writing the book. She is recording her account of the past and we are looking over her shoulder while she does it. Very interesting way to do it and I think it fits perfectly with the story. I often would forget unless she mentioned something, I was so absorbed in the story. Her memories are also set in the 90s (‘94 mainly) and so since I was a teenager in the 90s I didn’t even notice. Until she mentioned the payphone the second time and I was like wait….kids these days don’t use payphones like I did. So of course it completely endeared me and made it easy to relate to. Plus I was actually really into hockey guys in high school.

I loved Juliet. She is someone who knows what she wants and isn’t afraid to go for it. She’s smart and witty. I loved her faith in Lucas even when part of her was telling her to run away. She stands up for herself and is just really amazing.

Lucas is a little more complicated because there are stages of him. In the beginning he is really adorable and I loved him but then he changes….and that’s all I have to say about it.

I have to say my sci-fi brain took over a bit when I was reading. I was kind of like Juliet in the library. Going over a bunch of different theories in my head as to how it all could be happening. Wait it could be this or this. The story starts to come together at about the last thirty perecent and you begin to clue in to the hints of what is going on. I have to say that I absolutely loved how the whole thing turned out. I don’t want to give anything away. I was like this such a great story!! I just want to hug it.

I also liked how Rosemary had her own kind of side story going on with her drama. She is best friends with Juliet and even though they are always there for one another. They also can get frustrated at times. Juliet absorbed in her boyfriend, Rosemary doing what she does with boys. It was kind of crazy. Plus Jason. Ahh.

I just really loved and enjoyed I Remember You.

[whisperingchapters]

I started I Remember You back in December 26, 2014. I was excited over this book. I felt like it was going to hit me right in my feels, you know? So I started it immediately (also, thinking I had to do my review for January 6). I read until 46% and it was still…slow. I checked my calendar and noticed this book wasn’t for January 6 but for February 6, so I decided to stop reading because I was also losing a bit of interest in it. I picked it up in February 5 and finished reading it in less than two hours.

Now onto the story. I felt like the characters were annoying at times and the story was a bit slow for me. I was barely getting answers. You see, Lucas and Juliet meet in high school but Lucas has memories of Juliet and him being together…memories that can’t be real because they haven’t happened yet. Lucas has memories of being Iraq but that hasn’t happened yet either but he does predict what will happen and he thinks he really will join the marines like the rest of his family male members. The more these memories come, more painful are the headaches Lucas keeps having.

It’s not until after 55% into the book that things start picking up a bit and where I am finally getting a bit of answers..just a bit. Lucas has an accident that lands him at the hospital and this is where he reveals something to Juliet then all of a sudden he is a new Lucas…a Lucas that I didn’t like at all.

I talked about Lucas. Let’s start with Juliet. Juliet is a very smart girl, focused on school, her best friend Rosemary and her mom. Then she meets Lucas and she changes. She starts lying to her best friend and avoiding her, she starts being mean to her mom, she lowers her grades at school—the typical girl-meets-boy-and-then-girl-slacks story. I found it hard to connect to the characters and understand them. I don’t think they were portrayed the way they should have been. I also think more things should have happened to keep it exciting because it would get boring.

I’m giving this book 3.5 stars because I really liked the ending, after 96%. That’s where I got all excited and jittery (the good kind) and was eager to keep reading. The ending kind of saved the story for me, although I would have liked to read about Juliet’s and Lucas’ encounter. But the ending was rather good and I liked it.

I wish I could have said I loved this story but it was just a good story to me with a couple of flaws.

[shannonmiz]

When I first read the synopsis of this one, I was thinking it was going to be a run of the mill time travel romance book. Admittedly, I hadn't really read many of those, so it was fine with me. But it ended up being much more than that.

The book is written as though Juliet is writing a letter to Lucas. Maybe a journal to him would be a more appropriate comparison, since it is the length of a book, after all. Either way, I thought it was the perfect way to write the story. The reader is able to experience the story from Juliet's thoughts, but with the details that Juliet finds important. It's a great (and plausible) way to jump ahead to more important bits rather than having to deal with daily minutiae. We're able to get right to the heart of the story through Juliet's feelings and recollections.

Juliet is a really lovely main character. She is smart, she has her head on straight, and she is really quite likable. Lucas is also likable most of the time, and I can't really explain to you when/why he isn't, because it would give things away. Let's just say you're rooting for these two. We also get to see Juliet's other relationships evolve. Her best friend Rosemary is not always the easiest character to like, but she and Juliet were such opposites that it was easy to see what drew them to each other. Juliet also has to deal with her changing relationship with her mom, which was a nice addition to the story (and quite refreshing- no Parent-in-YA Syndrome here).

The romance, of course, plays a huge part in the story. I liked the majority of it, but there were times that I kind of wanted to give Juliet a little shake to remind her that she is a smart, strong young woman. The romance develops a bit quickly for my taste, but I don't know if I'd really call it full blown insta-love, since Juliet did question things, and was wary of jumping right in to actual love. The one thing that I have mixed feelings about is Juliet's behavior in the middle of the book, when they were already in love, and together. She blows off her friends and family, as well as her interests and her school responsibilities. On one hand, um no. No one needs to be doing that. However, there are young women who make this mistake, and I can't help but wonder if this was supposed to be a cautionary measure? Either way, it didn't sit well with me.

The plot was very enjoyable, and since Juliet jumped ahead and skipped the details that could have dragged it down, it moved nice and quickly. I really enjoyed the twist on typical time travel that the author used in this story. There were a few things that I did see coming, but I still had no idea how everything would turn out in the end. And there were tears shed. Quite a few of them, really.

*Copy provided by publisher via Netgalley for review*
This review was originally posted on It Starts at Midnight